Dieter Rams Quotations

Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.

I believe designers should eliminate the unnecessary. That means eliminating everything that is modish because this kind of thing is only short-lived.

All too much of the man-made is ugly, inefficient, depressing chaos.

Products have to be designed in a way that they are comprehensible.

I sit, I think, I make some drawings. As a designer, you cannot retire totally.

Design should not dominate things, should not dominate people. It should help people. That's its role.

There is a lot of bad architecture. What we need more is to look at how our landscape should look in the next decades.

Not the spectacular things are the important things - the unspectacular things are the important things, especially in the future.

I am not an early bird. I go to bed normally between midnight and 1 o'clock, so it is understandable that I cannot be an early bird. I wake up around 9 o'clock.

I don't like computers. I still like to do my drawings by hand.

I like to be in New York. Le Corbusier described it in the 1930s as a 'wonderful catastrophe.' It is still a wonderful catastrophe, but inspiring.

I hate everything that is driven by fashion.

My goal is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential is shown to best possible advantage.

As designers, we have a great responsibility.

Good design is innovative Gives a product utility Is aesthetic Makes a product easy to understand Is unobtrusive Is honest Is long-lived Is consistent down to the smallest detail Protects the environment Good design is as little design as possible.

The design should make the product speak to you.

I am not an early bird. I go to bed normally between midnight and 1 oclock, so it is understandable that I cannot be an early bird. I wake up around 9 oclock.

Good design makes a product understandable.

Nothing works without details. They are everything, the baseline of quality

As designers we have a great responsibility. I believe designers should eliminate the unnecessary. That means eliminating everything that is modish because this kind of thing is only short-lived.

Good design is honest.

An honest design communicates solely the functions and values it offers. It does not attempt to manipulate buyers and users with promises it cannot keep.

Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

We designers, we don't work in a vacuum. We need business people. We are not the fine artists we are often confused with.

People react positively when things are clear and understandable.

Good design is thorough down to the last detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Question everything generally thought to be obvious.

Good designers must always be avant-gardists, always one step ahead of the times. They should – and must – question everything generally thought to be obvious. They must have an intuition for people’s changing attitudes. For the reality in which they live, for their dreams, their desires, their worries, their needs, their living habits. They must also be able to assess realistically the opportunities and bounds of technology.

Good design is thorough, down to the last detail.

I am troubled by the devaluing of the word 'design’. I find myself now being somewhat embarrassed to be called a designer. In fact I prefer the German term, Gestalt-Ingenieur. Apple and Vitsoe are relatively lone voices treating the discipline of design seriously in all corners of their businesses. They understand that design is not simply an adjective to place in front of a product’s name to somehow artificially enhance its value. Ever fewer people appear to understand that design is a serious profession; and for our future welfare we need more companies to take that profession seriously.

Good design means as little design as possible.

Things which are different in order simply to be different are seldom better, but that which is made to be better is almost always different.

A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

One of the most significant design principles is to omit the unimportant in order to emphasize the important.

My heart belongs to the details. I actually always found them to be more important than the big picture. Nothing works without details. They are everything, the baseline of quality.

Good design is long-lasting! It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated....

Having small touches of colour makes it more colourful than having the whole thing in colour.

Good design is innovative 2. Good design makes a product useful 3. Good design is aesthetic 4. Good design makes a product understandable 5. Good design is unobtrusive 6. Good design is honest 7. Good design is long-lasting 8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail 9. Good design is environmentally friendly 10. Good design is as little design as possible

You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.

Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better - because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.